For Borgens, cars and music are no mere pastimes

"Understanding the perspective of a paralyzed person is difficult," Borgens said. "None of us knows what it's like to be trapped inside our own head."

It's a typically revealing statement from Borgens, who frequently mixes the personal and professional when he speaks. And small wonder, given how much he does outside his day job. A lifelong musician, Borgens' rock group The Bricks was on its way to fame and fortune back in the 1960s, hitting #14 on the pop charts in 1966 with "Can You See Me."

"It's hard to give up music when you spent your formative years hanging around with Don Henley of the Eagles and blues guitar masters like Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan," he said. "My band had a hit record before they did anyway."

Borgens also enjoys restoring old cars, and at any given time has up to five in various states of repair on his Delphi country home. The handlebar mustache and cowboy boots he wears to the Center for Paralysis Research is not exactly a typical Indiana outfit, but Borgens has no bones about paying homage to his forebears, who spent generations deep in the heart of Texas.

"Grow up in Dallas with movie actors, cowboys and circuit-riding ministers in your bloodline, and you're bound to inherit some personality," he says. "I'm probably a lot tamer than most of them were."

Work takes a lot of time away from his cars and music, but to Borgens they are no mere pastimes.

"Of course I know what my work here at Purdue means to paralysis victims, and I'm grateful that I've had the chance to give much of my life helping the critically injured," he said. "But deep down, if you asked me what I want it to read on my tombstone, I'd answer, 'Richard Ben Borgens - Musician'."

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